What does tucker mean when he says that the ethical question of the day is the distribution of wealth, not the redistribution of wealth?

What Tucker means when he says this is that the problem is not how to fix the current problems with the economic system. The problem is that we have a system that allows for this sort of inequality in the first place. Rather than seeking to bandage the problem we should look at the systemic issues and how it was allowed to become so unevenly distributed in the first place.

The growth of the empire continued to increase their confidence.